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2012-366 Day 7 – Webcomics

Seeing as I’ll actually be at Cutting Edge Karate most of the day, and a Graduation party for FZ2 most of the evening (can’t tell if that’d make a good DJ nickname or was just an orphaned license plate part), I’m trying my had at preparing something in the past and having it upload during the day. So yes, that means you’re reading this from the FUTURE! Well, technically you are always reading these in the future from when I write them, but . . . you know what, you know how this works, let’s move on.

So over the course of this year, I’m going to give you a little tour of my RSS feed. For those of you who don’t know, an RSS reader is a program where you feed it website addresses (their RSS feed), and it then gives you a central place where you can see all those updates without having to visit those individual websites. The first area we’re covering? Webcomics. Yes, just like the Sunday funnies we all used to/still love, the new version has gone online to create all sorts of havoc. So here’s what I read, a little on what it’s about, and why I read it. They’re in alphabetical order just because.

NOTE: Everyone’s tastes are different. I do not expect you to like all my choices, I’m just letting you know what they are.

Atomic Laundromat – http://www.atomiclaundromat.com/
A quirky strip about a guy who owns a laundromat in a world full of superheroes. Yeah, it’s a little nuts, but it’s fun and has a lot of heart.

Basic Instructions – http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/
I like this one because the guy who makes it shares a lot of my sense of humor (that should probably warn you off right there), although the art style (tracing of photographs) takes a bit of getting used to. Every strip is four panels on a specific topic, although they generally don’t seem to end up where you might imagine. . .

Cleopatra in Spaaace! – http://www.cowshell.com/cleopatra
This one hasn’t updated in a while, but you can catch up on the first two chapters here. A great artistic style and a setting which blends ancient Egyptian elements with Science Fiction.

Dilbert Daily Strip – http://dilbert.com/
It’s Dilbert. The same one you get in the newspaper. It would probably also be on the chopping block if it didn’t take three seconds to catch up on everyday.

Dork Tower – http://www.dorktower.com/
One of the originals, and very geeky/gamer oriented. I have an affection for the characters due to reading it for a long time, YMMV.

Drive Comic – http://www.drivecomic.com/
A Science Fiction comic from the creator of Sheldon (see below), it has an irregular update schedule as the creator’s main bread winner is his original comic and he has a few other projects going. That’s unfortunate, since I really like the art style, and the universe he is building is genuinely intriguing.

Evil Inc. – http://www.evil-comic.com/
A long running comic about a unique universe of superheroes and villains. The art can be a bit cheesecake at times (if you don’t know what that means, ask your parents), but the world parodies the comics fairly well, so the art might as well too.

Gronk – http://www.gronkcomic.com/
Might have a few points deducted from my Man card on this one, but this is a cute comic about a little girl monster living with her adopted mom, cat, and dog. Don’t bother taking my Man card though, as I’ll just have Todd issue me a new one (yes, I just made a joke that a grand total of two people will get, and I don’t know if one of them even reads this).

Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether – http://www.ineffableaether.com/
A comic about space pirates. Actually, this is a collaboration of a couple of well known physical comic creators, and there’s a lot of information about their process and ideas as well as the actual comic. The story itself is moving a tad slow, but it’s the extras that make this one interesting.

malandchad.com – http://malandchad.com/
This comic has actually been discontinued (well, actually moved to the print realm, creator is making graphic novels now), but you can read all of the original strips here, and he still updates the site with information on the new books. The comic itself is the closest thing I’ve found to Calvin and Hobbes (probably my all time favorite strip, beating out the second place Fox Trot by a bit) if Calvin was a bit more science minded and Hobbes was a dog. A whole lot of fun.

Not Invented Here – http://notinventedhe.re/
A comic about programming and programmers made by one of the creators about a comic about libraries. Uh yeah, so take from that what you will. The original artist just finished his run and they are about to move forward with a new artist, so we’ll see what happens there.

Order of the Stick – http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html
A stick figure comic set in a world based on the rules of Dungeons and Dragons. I’m beginning to become uncomfortable with how much a list of comics I like is revealing about me. . . Anyway, the art is actually really good for stick figures, and the story line, while going back a while now, has been great. Several of the individual strips have been absolutely amazing just as things to think about (such as the one on the advantages of being the evil despot to be overthrown in long running fantasy arcs), although, oddly enough, this is the second most impressive and thought provoking stick figure comic on the list.

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS – http://ourvaluedcustomers.blogspot.com/
A simple one panel comic done by the owner of a comic shop about all the crazy stuff he hears in his store. Usually makes me frightened for society, and occasionally makes me want to smack somebody. From the “it’s funny because it’s true” camp.

Penny-Arcade – http://www.penny-arcade.com/
This falls squarely in the Things I Shouldn’t Know Exist category (thanks Jon Acuff). It crosses all the gaming and comic boundaries and will just as often have me laughing out loud as it will have me facepalming and moving on to the next website. Taking it off the list would be inauthentic, however, since I do keep up on it, so here it is.

Power Nap RSS Feed – http://www.powernapcomic.com/
Bizarre comic about the one guy who has to sleep in a world where sleep has been medicated away. Story just took an interesting turn, and the art is kind of fun, but still on the chopping block.

PvPonline – http://www.pvponline.com/
Long running comic strip about a company that makes a magazine about games (wait, I’m beginning to see a pattern here). A lot of strong characterization in this one makes it a great read, but again, I’ve become attached through long term exposure.

Real Life Comics – http://www.reallifecomics.com/
Uh, it’s a little hard to describe this one, as it’s about a guy who lives in Northern California and his real life adventures, except their not-so-much real life, and there are a bunch of zany adventures. And he can go off on long story lines about Star Trek, or his new kid, or. . . you know what, you can just try it and see if you like it.

Sheldon, The Daily Comic Strip, Dave Kellett – http://www.sheldoncomics.com/
A comic strip about a boy genius who starts a software company, makes millions of dollars, and his life. Although the money and the software company have surprisingly little to do with it. Oh yeah, and a duck that talks because he had a dictionary uploaded into his head who has adopted a lizard son. . . okay, now I’m starting to scare myself.

Sluggy Freelance RSS Feed – http://www.sluggy.com/
One of the granddaddy of webcomics, this one has been going since August of 1997. The archives are enormous, but, if you can get through them, you will be rewarded with a far reaching, surprisingly well thought out story that crosses dimensions and time, and is just a bit crazy to boot.

Surviving The World – http://survivingtheworld.net/
A man and chalkboard conduct a fictional college class on a topic a day. Covers a crazy amount of area, and he is an actual college professor (though I believe he is in between teaching gigs and working for the government right now), which gives you hope that all of us professors can have fun. Oh, and I came in 3rd place in his 20 team fantasy baseball league (he came in second).

The Abominable Charles Christopher – http://www.abominable.cc/
This comic only updates once a week, but just go look at the art. The fact that there is an story at all, and the fact that the story is pretty awesome in itself, is just icing.

The Adventures of Superhero Girl – http://superherogirladventures.blogspot.com/
The creator of this strip is more well known for her other comics, but I don’t read them and this one is superhero related, so I think you know why I’m on board. It’s definitely a fun, quirky strip. I can’t believe I’ve used quirky twice (er, I guess three times now) in this blog post.

The Gutters – http://www.the-gutters.com/
A single comic book page every few days by a rotating cast of professional artists that makes fun of some aspect of the current events in the comic book industry. Sadly how I get most of my comic news since I dropped out of buying them mid-last year.

The Non-Adventures of Wonderella – http://nonadventures.com/
What if Wonder Woman was a sarcastic, drunken, unmotivated wreck that often caused more problems than she solved? You can look at the results here.

The Trenches – http://trenchescomic.com/
A joint venture of two previous comics on the list (Penny Arcade and PVPonline), this one is fairly new and details the life and times of a software QA company (game testing), which is legendarily soul sucking and difficult.

xkcd.com – http://xkcd.com/
The premier stick figure comic on the Internets. Has touched on pretty much every significant subject, with a heavy math and science bent (although quite a bit of philosophical thought and even a bit of sex is thrown in). Some of the most amazing comics don’t even have stick figures in them, as the creator has painstakingly put together charts on radiation and money you have to see to believe.

Weight: 240 Max: 240 Min: 240
Yearly Mileage: 4 miles
Current Belt: White – Next Belt: Purple – Next Test Date: 1/7/12 (today!)
Fitocracy Level: 5 (2144 points, 544/1000 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

Posted in Matt 2012-366, Matt General. Tagged with , , .

By Matt
January 7, 2012

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2012-366 Day 6 – Ultimate Frisbee

So did you know that I get to play Ultimate Frisbee twice a week at work? Well, currently when I’m not teaching.

Quick Ultimate Frisbee refresher, it’s a combination of soccer and football with a Frisbee. Two teams alternate possession of the Frisbee, each trying to score a goal in their end zone. The trick is that the Frisbee can’t touch the ground, and when you catch the Frisbee you can take no more than three steps with it. The defenders can try to block the initial throw from whoever has the Frisbee (but must stay an arm plus the Frisbee’s length away) or block the receiver (but cannot touch them or else a foul is called and the play is reset).

Upon transferring over to Admissions and Records a few years ago, I was introduced to the Staff (and any Students that were around) Frisbee game that took place at lunch a couple times a week. Since then, I’ve tried to play as much as possible (although when I teach at CSUN I have to cut my lunch breaks back, so I can’t always play during the semester). It’s a great time with a bunch of usual suspects (including a small contingent from Admissions and Records and Jess) that usually nets us at least a three on three game and up to seven on seven on occasion. It’s a great amount of exercise and I occasionally get to show off a bit, which is also a lot of fun.

In all, it’s a great way to spend a lunch break and, despite occasional flare ups, is played in the true spirit of fun and competition. At least until we have playoffs. . . (we will never have playoffs).

Weight: 240 (I don’t exactly trust the gym’s scale, but we’ll use it for a base) Max: 240 Min: 240
Yearly Mileage: 4 miles
Current Belt: White – Next Belt: Purple – Next Test Date: 1/7/12
Fitocracy Level: 5 (2144 points, 544/1000 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
January 6, 2012

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2012-366 Day 5 – Fitocracy

I swear this isn’t a commercial.

A few months back I heard of this beta social networking site called fitocracy, where you could put in your work outs, earn points, and level up (yes, it’s a role playing game based on exercise, but both of which are relevant to my interests, so shush). Unfortunately the site was (and still is) invite only, so I put my e-mail in, waited, and then kind of forgot about it.

Until this morning.

Yep, I opened up my gmail this morning to find an invite to join the site. I jumped on it and started inputting my workouts to start earning points (thankfully I went to the gym for the first time since Christmas last night, so I actually had some something with which to start out), and am already up to level 5 (starting December 31st, that includes 4 miles running, two 50 minute karate classes – one tonight, 3 two minute stair runs – I run to the top of my building at work once a day to break up the sitting, and one trip to the gym last night) with 1 Achievement and 4 Quests completed. Being the type of person that I am (a compulsive collector), giving me a set of achievements to do that require a bunch of different physical tasks means that I’m going to be very sore over the next couple weeks.

Yes, it is self reporting. Yes, I could lie. No, I will not (another advantage of being the type of person that I am).

I was excited when I started, so I sent off invitations to a small group of people. I have 10 first-come-first-serve spots available (I could send out more than that, but I believe number 11 on gets put into the waiting queue), so if you are interested in one, let me know and I’ll send one your way.

Honestly, even if the points, achievements, and the like aren’t for you, it seems like a good way to track your exercising online and, since it has a database of exercises already, perhaps get some new ideas for your routine. I’m very much looking forward to it.

Weight: 240 (I don’t exactly trust the gym’s scale, but we’ll use it for a base) Max: 240 Min: 240
Yearly Mileage: 4 miles (+2)
Current Belt: White – Next Belt: Purple – Next Test Date: 1/7/12
Fitocracy Level: 5 (1871 points, 271/1000 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
January 5, 2012

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2012-366 Day 4 – Soccer

So I signed up for something else new yesterday, let’s see if you can guess what it is. . .

Time’s up. If you said soccer, well, you read the title, didn’t you? Another local church with a much larger sports ministry (Shepherd of the Hills) runs two Arena Soccer leagues every year, and I decided that I wanted to give it a shot. Why? Well, I had a few reasons:

1) We’re in the off-season for Rocky Peak Sports, so I’m not currently participating/coaching there (outside of the delinquent softball playoffs, which we’re going to run as a one-day tournament later this month since the entire month of November was rained out. Of course, it hasn’t rained since except for one weird cloud burst in the last two months).

2) Speaking of coaching, since I have ZERO soccer experience outside of kicking the ball around a couple times, I will actually get to play in a league where I don’t have to coach, which hasn’t happened for a while now. Don’t get me wrong, I love coaching in the Rocky Peak Leagues, and have even been moderately successful (although it helps that the other coaches pity me at draft time and let me pick early ;), but it will be nice to be able to just play for once and not worry about lineups or strategy.

3) It’s a sport that involves a lot of running around (assuming I can get off the bench in whatever team I’m playing on) and I figure all my mileage will allow an advantage over anyone who may be less conditioned. And I’ll probably need any advantage I can get, seeing as I just may go out there and trip over the ball.

The field is in the same parking lot as the gym I go to, so I’ve wandered over and observed segments of a couple of games over the past few months just to get a feel for what’s going on. Between watching and reading the rules online, it seems a lot like hockey (5 on 5 plus a goalie, can’t kick it from one end of the field to another without it touching a wall or a player, no ice or skates though). As for my role, it’d probably best if I was the midfielder as I can cover a lot of ground without having a primary responsibility on defense or offense, although I would love to play goalie (I imagine no one’s going to want to trust a rookie goalie though, maybe I can get some experience on the back end of some blowouts).

Anyhow, the placement day (it’s not a tryout, no one gets cut – thankfully!) isn’t until January 29th and I acquired all the necessary gear (er, shin guards and long socks) from my in-laws for Christmas, so I just get to hurry up and wait for a bit. Expect some updates on this in the future.

Weight: Coming soon, haven’t weighed myself yet this year. (Hope to at the gym tonight)
Yearly Mileage: 2 miles (also have a run scheduled for tonight)
Current Belt: White – Next Belt: Purple – Next Test Date: 1/7/12

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By Matt
January 4, 2012

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2012-366 Day 3 – Karate

So as you probably gathered from my New Year’s post (if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s here), I have joined a Karate studio and have started working my way up the ranks. It was a rather sudden decision, as an impromptu invitation from a friend met with a “that’s not a bad idea” rather than the “are you kidding” they were probably expecting. In actuality, Karate and I have had a bit of a history (which I will briefly – you’re welcome – relate here) and it is one of the past times I truly enjoy.

First, the history. This will be my third different style and fourth different dojo over the course of 31 years. The first style and two dojos were when I was a kid, as I made it to the second belt in Tae Kwon Do twice at two different locations. For whatever reason (I honestly don’t remember, but most likely it had to do with baseball and umpiring), neither place stuck and I was out before my teens. While the memories are not all that clear, I feel I can trace a fundamental appreciation for order, respect, and self-control to the frameworks offered by my early Karate experiences.

In fact, those feelings were strong enough that when looking at an extra class to take in Spring 2001 (yes, I looked that up on my transcript), I decided to try KIN 130A (helpfully titled Karate I). The style taught in the class was called Shotokan, and I also joined the CSUN Karate club for additional class time and training. I stuck with it through the summer, took KIN 130B (Karate II) in the Fall and achieved a Blue belt on my final test before stopping to finish my Undergrad work. I might have continued with the training, but I took 21 units my last semester (Spring 2002) which left little time for extracurriculars. There was a great group of helpful upper belts and a tough on the surface, but kind underneath Sensei that made classes a lot of fun while still providing excellent training. Sadly, one of the younger (late 20’s) black belts died due to a surprise heart condition around the time I left, and the group I was training with drifted apart.

I hadn’t thought about doing any sort of Karate again at all until a mid-November day where we were hanging out after church (and our friend Allison’s baptism, whose story probably deserves its own blog post down the road). Our friend Brandon Kemmer (unless I’m in the studio, then it’s Master K) owns a studio (http://www.karateedge.com/ – Cutting Edge Karate, check it out and tell them I sent you) and I had not given it any thought, until Allison’s husband Chad looks at me and says, “My brother Kyle and I are starting classes, and you should come too.” After determining the time and the finances worked, I showed up that Thursday for my first class.

Coming up on two months in and I’ve been to every Thursday class (taught by the awesome Mr. Wierman) and a little over half the Saturday classes (a couple out of town trips getting in the way) and I’m feeling pretty well prepared for my first test coming up this Saturday. It feels good to be getting back to my roots, and the cardio and flexibility benefits definitely are helpful. I think it’s high time I complete this journey and earn myself a Black Belt, and I intend to enjoy the ride.

Weight: Coming soon, haven’t weighed myself yet this year.
Yearly Mileage: 2 miles
Current Belt: White – Next Belt: Purple – Next Test Date: 1/7/12

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By Matt
January 3, 2012

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2012-366 Day 2 – Vacation

Definitely having mixed feelings about the mandatory vacation coming to an end. Turns out at this stage of my life, my natural bio-rhythm I default to on vacation gives me a sleep cycle around 2am to 10 am (which doesn’t look much like my day-to-day cycle of 12am to 7am, hopefully soon to be 11pm to 6am with running). The structure of work definitely helps better balance my days (pretty obvious, since I haven’t been to the gym or running in the past week until today, at least for the running part). And while my normal job begins again tomorrow, I get a break from the second teaching job until the end of the month (though I am blessed to have my teaching job in this economic climate, and very fortunate to have my class again next semester since it barely cleared the budget, even if it is at 8 am :).

All that said, it was very nice to have a little downtime after all the holiday insanity, and it was nice to see everyone during the holiday insanity. Getting the sleep schedule righted will make tomorrow a bit of a pain, but going back to regularly scheduled programming does sound good. Who knows, maybe it will unearth some interesting things to write about. . .

Yearly Mileage: 2 (2)
Current Belt: White – Next Belt: Purple – Next Test Date: 1/7/12

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By Matt
January 2, 2012

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2012-366 Day 1 – Resolutions

Welcome to the new year! It is the time for reflection and renewal, and the time to start new projects. (Why? Because the calendar says so, that’s why!) So here are my resolutions for the new year.

1) This series, 2012-366. One blog post (long or short) every day this year. Whether a full on blog post or a link to something interesting, I want to stretch my creative muscles a bit.

2) Lose 20 pounds. Pretty self explanatory.

3) Run 600 miles. Going to have to start running in the morning to fit this one in. We’ll see how long that lasts. 🙂

4) Complete 5th Gup Green belt test by end of year.

5) Complete first novel. If this is the only one I don’t accomplish, it’ll be an excellent year.

Yearly Mileage: 0
Current Belt: White – Next Belt: Purple – Next Test Date: 1/7/12

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By Matt
January 1, 2012

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Saturday Afternoons

When I was little, on Saturday afternoons, my dad and I would go for these long drives. We’d get in, he’d hand me a map and ask me how to get somewhere, because he wanted me to know how to read a map. We’d listen to music while we’d talk and he’d tell me why he loved that artist or song, because even if I didn’t like it, he wanted me to appreciate all music. We’d talk about everything, questions, opinions, it was a free space because he wanted me to know I could always talk to him. Sometimes we’d just drive, sometimes we end up at Dodger games or Leo Carrillo, because he wanted me to appreciate adventure. My favorite was when we’d end up at the McDonalds right by Disneyland just in time for the fireworks, because he wanted to make me smile. I learned so much on those Saturday afternoon drives. I love you Dad, Happy Father’s Day.

Posted in Jess General.

By Jessica
June 19, 2011

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Disney World Vacation: Expedition Everest Challenge

Two hundred forty seven days, that sounds about right.

June 20th, 2010.

The day we faced the Yeti.

We had been warned ahead of time. Heck, we chose our team name with the possibility in mind.

YET-E Logo

Yes, I rocked this. I rocked it hard.

Bedecked in matching T-shirts, we left our hotel room at the All Star Music Resort at Disneyworld and made our way to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Matt and Jess in front of fake ice

Yes, you heard me, I said bedecked!

As was our usual, we trundled down to the shuttle station and awaited the shuttle we hoped would arrive (they told us a special shuttle was coming, but I was still a little nervous). A shuttle did indeed arrive, fairly empty, so we hopped on board and made the fifteen minute trek over to the park. We arrived at the unloading area and things seemed relatively quiet. We located the signs pointing us to the staging area and headed off. Rounding a corner, a stage and large amount of people came into view. This must have been the base camp from which we would go hunting.

Waiting for the race at sunset

If the sun is so low, why is it still so dang hot?

Sundown was approaching, and it was still hot and muggy (as it was pretty much the entire time we were in Florida). I had expected it to be a little cooler with a race time of 8 pm, or at least a touch less humid. Felt like we were going to be going for a swim along with our run. The Expedition Everest Challenge was a two-part race, the first a 5K with some obstacles spread throughout, and the second a scavenger hunt, both through the park (though the race was starting in the parking lot outside). We had arrived nice and early, so we spent the time stretching, taking pictures, and listening to the really inane chatter of the M.C.s.

Our emcees

Okay, inane is probably a little harsh, but look at those outfits!

Jess and Matt in front of a plane

Wait, we have a plane. Why are we running again?

Our “job” was to find the organizer of last year’s Expedition Everest Challenge, which had been wiped out by a typhoon (no, seriously, the event was rained out in the middle the year before).

Jess in front of the "Search for Gary" Sign

Sure, we'll get right on that searching for Gary thing.

As the sun went down, people headed to the starting line. We would be released in waves according to the number on our bibs with a 5-minute delay. Since we were wave 4, we had a little bit of time to psych ourselves up. Fireworks went up with the start of each wave, and finally it was our turn to depart.

Starting line fireworks

I think we just lost the element of surprise on the Yeti. . .

I’ll admit, it was a little difficult for me to temper my pace so that Jess and I were running together (this wound up being a good thing, as I had not really trained for this event and am fairly certain I would have flamed out spectacularly in the heat and humidity had I not been reined in a bit).

Map of the race

You are here. Then here. Then here. Now here.

The opening section wound around the parking lot and we arrived at our first obstacle after about half a mile just before we entered the park. We clambered up onto the balance beams (about 4 feet high, which felt surprisingly tall) and quickly scampered across the 50 feet they covered. The gates of the park were next, and we turned left and began the ascent to the African section. After passing through we turned to go backstage on an access road that leads us to the second obstacle, a series of tires for us to step through. They were very large and not very difficult to maneuver over. Coming back into the park and around to the Asian area, we were able to run past the Everest ride itself before heading into another backstage area and the final obstacles. Several rows of hay bales had been set down for us to hurdle over, and then a cargo net had been placed about a couple feet above the ground under which we had to crawl. I had a fun surprise when my backpack (with all our supplies and camera) caught and I jerked to a stop on my belly, but I got unhooked and we crossed the finish line.

Matt and Jess wristbands

Pic unrelated.

Crossing the finish line meant we could stop running, but our job wasn’t over yet. We each picked up a clue card and started to head back to the park entrance to begin the hunt. Unfortunately, we couldn’t agree on what the clue was telling us to do! It took us a minute to realize that we were only supposed to pick up one clue per team, and that our clues were indeed telling us to head to different locations. Since both locations were in the same area, we headed in and just decided to pick the first one we came to. Having found the correct location referred to in the first clue (which was an insanely easy riddle I don’t even remember the details of), we picked up our second clue and essentially retraced our 5k route. One reason they gave different clues was to alleviate congestion during the search, and we apparently picked a good set, as none of the clue stations we arrived were particularly busy. All the puzzles we got were solved easily, and, as long as you had a map, getting to them wasn’t particularly difficult. We blazed through and got to the official end in Dinoland, where our medals and the after party awaited.

Jess with her medal

Did I mention the medals?

Matt confused by compass

The medals had a compass inside them. Now how do these things work again?

Matt pointing at medal

I think the heat got to me.

Gary was found (apparently, I never saw him), the Yeti vanquished, and we both had a lot of fun!

Jess and Matt with Baloo

Cameraman jerk didn't warn us there was a bear behind us

Posted in Matt General.

By Matt
February 23, 2011

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Inspiration or “What I love to do”

Before you start with, “You don’t write very much,” I’m going to say that I’m writing right now, so there. Jess and I watched “Dead Poet’s Society” for the first time tonight (yes, I am aware that we are 22 years behind), and I felt the need to write something about it. No, not about “Carpe Diem,” or even about not having sucked the marrow out of life. (If you haven’t seen the movie, do so, it is excellent. And you are further behind than I am.) Nope, today’s topic is, as stated above, inspiration.

I enjoy writing. I enjoy it tremendously. There is little I like better than sitting at a keyboard and having stories and statements tumble out of my fingers and onto the screen. When the flow begins, and the ideas spark, there is a joy in the creative process that I derive from few other things (although, a similar feeling and pleasure is derived when coding a program or teaching a class, lest you think my chosen professions have fallen too far astray of my life’s joys). So why don’t I do it more often? That’s a question I ask myself all the time, and it really comes down to inspiration.

One aspect I truly enjoy about a good (and sometimes bad) movie is the scope. The scope of a movie gives a larger than life quality to the characters and the settings, and the ability of a good story to lead you down paths and force you to consider things in different ways. They may be powerful and deliberate, like “Dead Poet’s Society,” or expressed in another format altogether. The two best movies I’ve seen in the past year resonated for two very different reasons, the first being “The King’s Speech” due to the fantastic characterization and skillful portrayals in a story that is only made the more important by its setting. Meanwhile, “Inception” was a creative, mind-engaging tapestry, woven together and left with a single thread that the viewer could then pull on to unravel. The former left an emotional response which I enjoyed processing with Jess, and the latter left an intellectual response that I enjoyed processing with society at large.

It is these kinds of experiences that I enjoy the most, and why I enjoy going to a movie and being able to lose myself in it. It is these kinds of experiences and the engagement of the mind that I want to be able to provide other people when I write. I feel every good artistic expression reveals a part of the author’s soul, and it has long been my desire to be completely transparent. Maybe why I run, or what inspires me to write is not interesting to everyone, but for those that care and want to know me, I want to make sure that I am open and upfront about who I am and why I’m here. I’m not saying all writings should be so self-revealing, but I want to make certain that anyone starting from this point knows who I am and how I work.

I feel by far that the weakest aspect of my teaching is that when I get excited I talk too fast. As I am still starting out as a teacher, it can be difficult for me to modulate myself when something comes to my mind. I want to share it immediately, I want the students to understand it like I understand it. To see the light of understanding come on is immensely gratifying. Perhaps the greatest drawback of writing and posting items online is that I don’t get to be there when the information is read. It sits there open to interpretation, with the potential to be realized, and yet it may never occur.

The weakest aspect of my writing, on the other hand, is a lack of polish. This weakness can be addressed in the exact same fashion as my weakness in teaching, by repetition. Teaching more classes, writing more often, by these avenues will I better be able to hone my passions. Teaching I only have so much control over, as I only get classes when they are available, and may practice within to my heart’s (though perhaps not my student’s) content. As for writing, we have now returned (after a lengthy departure for which I apologize) to the topic of inspiration. For me a touchstone is necessary, something to begin the journey to which I may (or may not) reach the end. Today, it was a movie. In the past, it has been my love for running, or softball. As I am moving out of a season of pain and distraction, it is now time to pursue my passions more readily, and not just spend my time idling on this project or that. For that I need some inspiration, so if someone reading this wants to leave me a topic they’d like to see me address, I would love that inspiration. I must also be ready to provide my own inspiration, and, to that end, I am going to write on this blog more often.

I suppose, in a way, I have been inspired to “Seize the Day.”

Posted in Matt General.

By Matt
February 20, 2011

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